My Heart Remembers by Kim Vogel Sawyer

Author:Kim Vogel Sawyer
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2010-07-15T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Maelle

Shay’s Ford, Missouri

March, 1903

Maelle sat cross-legged just inside the hatch of her wagon and munched her simple lunch of cheese and crackers. Rain fell softly outside the opening, bringing in the odors of moist earth, new grass, and a hint of fish. The rain had held off until she’d finished her morning deliveries of portraits—the last pictures she intended to take in Shay’s Ford. From the looks of the gray sky, the rest of the day would be wet, which didn’t make for pleasant traveling. But for now she was dry inside her wagon, and Samson was dry inside the livery down the street, so she wouldn’t complain.

She popped another cracker into her mouth as thunder gently rumbled in the distance, sounding to Maelle like wooden wheels on cobblestone. Moments ago she’d watched Jackson’s surrey pull around the corner. Every day since she’d arrived in town, she’d seen him walk to and from the law office. The sight of him in that surrey had drawn her up short. She supposed she should have guessed from his stylish clothes and his position as a lawyer that he was a man of wealth, but it had taken the leather-covered surrey to classify him as rich in her mind.

In her years of traveling with Richard, she’d photographed more wealthy families than she could count. And she’d never learned to like them. Every one of those families reminded her of the callous couple who had snatched her baby sister from her arms and driven away. She scrunched her eyes closed, searching her memory for the name of the family. Shambler? Stamber? She huffed in frustration.

Although she’d determined to remember it, her inability to write it down—and Richard’s refusal to allow her to talk about it—had erased the name from her mind. She opened her eyes and stared at the cheese in her hand. She couldn’t remember their name, but she remembered their attitude when they’d taken Molly away. Heartless. The wealthy were heartless.

She bit off a chunk of cheese, her thoughts returning to Jackson. He was certainly wealthy, but could she call him heartless? He seemed very concerned about children caught in terrible situations. The speech he’d given at the park had been flowery, but he’d also sounded sincere. And he’d given her a safe place to park, allowing her the unlimited use of his office building. Maybe she shouldn’t call him heartless.

Finishing the last bite of cheese, she reached for her jacket. She held it over her head as she slid out of the wagon and walked to the front of the law office, where she could look across the street to the park. Through the light veil of rain, she spotted the wooden platform where Jackson had eloquently lectured his audience. Her memory replayed an image from her viewfinder: Jackson’s fervent face, his brow creased in concentration, his hands raised in supplication. Yes, he certainly cared about the children of whom he spoke. He wanted to make a difference in their lives.

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